Alternate Path Book Two: Into the Wild
by pokedawnheart
Summary: Sequel to "Alternate Path: Bluestar's Prophecy". The story continues as a new prophecy comes to light: "Fire alone can save our Clan". Young kittypet Rosalie is anxious to enter the forest as her father, Jake, had done. Only she ends up joining ThunderClan in the bargain. Just how far will this pretty she-cat go to fit in with her new life? Hints of TigerxFire
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this story is taking forever to write, but I have finished this chapter.**

 **Not much too really say at the moment.**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

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Chapter One

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 **Rosalie**

Rosalie blinked open her eyes, the forest of her dream disappearing. In its place was the hot and airless kitchen of her housefolk's den. She blinked again and sighed, resting her head on her forepaws while her collar pinched at her neck. Rosalie had been having dreams of the forest all of her short life, but ever since the full moon three nights previously the dreams had become even more vivid. She really wished that she could talk to her father about them but he had been murdered by a rouge the previous month.

Shaking her head as if to scatter her bad thoughts, she got up from her bed and ate from her bowl. As usual, the pellets were tasteless and hard. Afterwards, she went out into the garden, leaping on the fence to gaze into the shadows of the forest. It was a favorite past-time of hers that she had gotten from her father.

Focused as she was on the growing shadows, Rosalie didn't notice the cat behind her until said cat put his paw on her shoulder. Yowling in shock, Rosalie fell off her perch and landed on the strip of land that separated the gardens and the forest. Looking

up at whoever had startled her, she was met by the black-and-white pelt and amber eyes of her good friend Smudge.

"Hello, Smudge," Rosalie sighed before she started staring at the forest again.

"You're not still thinking of going in, are you?" Smudge asked, his amber eyes huge. It was a long standing discussion for them, especially after her father was killed. She wanted so badly to enter the forest as her father had, at least according to all of his stories. She just couldn't shake the feeling that she was meant to leave the life of a house-cat behind her and live out in the wild. Smudge didn't want to lose his friend, however.

"Just for a look," Rosalie promised and it was true. Maybe one day she would leave for good, but not now.

Smudge looked at her like he didn't quite believe her but let it go. The sun was starting to set and Rosalie only wanted a quick look. Promising to be back before the moon reached its peak in the sky, Rosalie walked across the strip of earth that lay between the fences, protecting the housefolk gardens and dens, and the wild forest beyond.

Feeling a bit like a curious kitten, Rosalie walked through the forest, never letting the housefolk dens be completely out of sight. She knew that if the dens were to be completely covered, she would probably end up dinner for a fox or badger. Even house-cats knew of those dangers, even if they never really experience them. A snapping of a twig caught her attention and she looked over and saw a bushy red tail with a white tail-tip. When she inched closer out of curiosity, the smell of the creature suddenly blew toward her, assaulting her nose with a bad smell she had only ever heard about from her father's stories.

 _*Flashback*_

" _Daddy?" a little flame-ginger she-kit crawled over to her father, green eyes showing curiosity._

" _Yes little Rosalie?" her father, Jake, replied._

" _What's a fox?" she asked._

" _Well, let's see. They're basically wild dogs with red fur and smell of crowfood for the most part. Nasty fighters, too," Jake explained to his daughter._

" _How do you fight one?" the kitten asked, always inquisitive as she was._

" _Well, one thing that Talltail and Pinestar always told me was to never fight a fox alone. They're tricky and fierce creatures that a cat should never take on without backup"_

 _*End Flashback*_

Rosalie shivered involuntarily as she eyed the bushy tail because that was no cat's tail. That was a fox tail. She quickly debated on what to do. Her father had told her about the wild cats, and with this being their territory she was out of jurisdiction for fighting the fox. In fact, she could get in trouble. Then the wind changed again and the fox turned around to face her, dark brown-almost black-eyes watching her like the meal she was to it. Rosalie considered her options, fight or flee. Before she could decide, the fox lunged at her and her instincts kicked in and she fled.

 **Tigerclaw**

The tabby was heading to the warrior's den to get some sleep when he noticed something rather odd. The two newest apprentices were leaving their den and heading toward the camp wall by the nursery. While the two had only started training that day, they hadn't had the chance to explore outside of camp, since they were named just before sundown. While his own apprentice Ravenpaw would never think of doing this kind of thing, Lionheart's apprentice Graypaw would. The long-furred gray tom was always adventurous and while Ravenpaw was shy, he would always hang out with Graypaw anyway. Plus, it really wasn't that hard to convince him to do stuff anyway. He padded into the den and woke up Lionheart, quickly explaining the situation of their apprentices that he had seen. The two toms left, but not before notifying Bluestar when they saw her, who decided to go with them to find the apprentices.

They followed the two towards the Twolegplace. Tigerclaw felt slightly unnevered when the scent of fox and fear nearly overwhelmed him. He noticed the two apprentices they were following crouched in a bush, watching whatever was going on and whispering with each other. Before the three cats knew what was going on, the apprentices leaped from the bushes and the mayhem began.

 **Rosalie**

She didn't know how long she ran, or where to, but she didn't stop. Her mind was blank with fear and the only thing she cared about was getting away from the fox who was chasing her. So she could be forgiven for being startled when two toms her age jumped from a bush and started fighting the fox. One was a long-furred light-gray with a darker stripe along his spine and the other a scrawny black with a white tail-tip. She slid to a stop and watched for a few seconds, then-without thinking it through-jumped into the fray to assist the two strange toms, bell jiggling wildly.

The fight went on for another few minutes, the moon-still somewhat full-slowly hitting the peak of its journey, before the three young cats could defeat the fox-Rosalie had bitten its tail until it ran off. The toms looked over at her, giving her a better view of them as well. The long-furred tom's fur was darker than at first sight, but still clearly showed the darker stripe, which-upon closer inspection-actually looked more black than dark gray, and his eyes were yellow-dancing with mirth and joy. The scrawny black tom not only had a white tail-tip but a white dash on his chest and he had green eyes that practically glowed in nervousness.

Rosalie's mind finally caught up with her, and she realized that the two toms who had saved her were most likely wildcats. Her emerald-green eyes widened and her ears flattened against her head, fear flooding her body at the thought of what the wildcats would do to her. She was, after all, trespassing, even if she hadn't meant to. Suddenly, the wind brought the scent of three older cats close by causing Rosalie and the two toms to flinch. The gray tom flicked his tail, silently telling her to leave. But the bushes started to rustle and a blue-gray she-cat stepped out, followed by a golden tabby tom and a dark brown tabby tom.

"Lionheart!" the fluffy gray tom gasped, looking at the golden tabby. "We weren't doing anything, were we Ravenpaw?" he continued, glancing at his black furred friend for support. The blue-furred she-cat cast an amused glance at the dark tabby, who growled lowly, causing all three younger cats to flinch back.

"I don't care what you think you are doing out of camp at this time of night when you shouldn't be!" the dark tabby growled at the two younger toms, hardly giving Rosalie a single glance. The blue-gray she-cat purred in amusement while shaking her head, blue eyes focused on the tabby at her side.

"I remember a time or two when you were the same way Tigerclaw," the golden tabby, Lionheart apparently, muttered, amber eyes holding the same amusement as the blue-gray she-cat. The dark tabby Tigerclaw growled at Lionheart for that remark but didn't do anything more.

 **Tigerclaw**

The tabby wasn't truly mad at the two apprentices, but he was deeply concerned about them. That said, he was not pleased. They should never had run off the way they did. Not only that but fighting a fox with the help of only a flame-ginger kittypet! As the five Clan cats started back towards camp, Tigerclaw happened to glance back to the pretty flame-ginger she-cat, emerald-green eyes filled with confusion and hope. Tigerclaw still couldn't believe that his former mentor would allow a kittypet the chance of being an apprentice. But he did have to admit that she had a fire in her emerald gaze that just didn't fit a kittypet. He gave her a single nod of acceptance before following his Clanmates towards camp. Hopefully, by sunhigh tomorrow, she'd be a part of the Clan. _And a part in my life,_ he thought quietly, the vision already coming to him.

Redtail, the deputy, was awake when they got back, his apprentice, Dustpaw, beside him. Bluestar started talking to her deputy while the apprentices went back to their nests. Tigerclaw took no interest of what was being said and walked off to go back to his nest. In his sleep, he started dreaming about the kittypet that might-he hoped-would be one of his Clanmates come sunhigh tomorrow.

 **Rosalie**

She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe it. Rosalie sat in the same spot the wild cats-Clan cats, she corrected herself-left her, thinking about their words. She could join them if she wished, not have to look after herself. She would be trained at the very least, so she could take care of herself if need be. She finally stood up and walked home in a daze, her mind not only full of thoughts of what Clan life could be but also of the dark tabby, Tigerclaw. That nod he gave her was more than just a farewell, it was one of great acceptance, that he would accept whichever she choose. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that her choice had already been made. She was just going to say goodbye to her old life.

At least she'd be able to choose a mate instead of being forced on some stranger! Or worse go to the vet and be unable to have kittens in the first place!

 _That, and they have better food in the forest than tasteless pellets,_ Rosalie thought with a small giggle when reaching her housefolk den and curling into her nest.

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 **Okay, this is turning into a cute story. Has anyone seen the hints I already played? This part of the story will only have hints of a pairing, but it is there. Also, does anyone get the references made at the end?**

 **Review!**

 **~pokedawnheart**


	2. Chapter 2

**My muse was wonky for this part, but I made it. But the lack of reviews was frustrating too say the least. Did none of you get the references? I had hoped you would, but apparently you guys just don't want to review, or but your guess forth.**

 **One review that I fell I must answer actually comes from my 'Stars of Fire' story. One guest asked me about Lynxkit. According to the** _ **Warriors Wiki**_ **, Lynxkit was a ginger tabby and black tom with amber eyes. His parents are Goldenflower and Patchpelt, and he was the littermate of Swiftpaw. He died due to weakness somewhere between chapter 9 (pages 108 and 109) of** _ **Into the Wild**_ **and** _ **Fire and Ice**_ **. The only time he appeared was when he and his brother were playing. Swiftkit (mistaken as a gray and white, instead of black and white) was pretending to be Brokenstar. While the two were playing, Swiftkit accidently launches Lynxkit into Yellowfang's side, causing her to snap at him. He then runs behind Speckletail (who is his grandmother). Mistlekit was a pale gray tabby with black stripes, amber eyes and white paws. She was Speckletail and Smallear's daughter. She was only seen in** _ **Fire and Ice**_ **, when Fireheart brought a mouse for Yellowfang. He persuades her to take some medicine since she was giving Yellowfang a hard time. She was said to have recovered from the whitecough, though she never appeared again.**

 **Sorry for the ramble, I just felt like I had to address it. Especially if I get another review like that.**

 **Please enjoy the chapter!**

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 **Tigerclaw**

The dawn patrol was returning when Tigerclaw woke up. He walked out of the warrior's den with a yawn, shaking his head and peering at the apprentice's den. He thought about taking Ravenpaw for a quick training session, but quickly decided against it. He didn't need to waste the morning trying to teach the nervous apprentice when he couldn't concentrate himself on any particular thing. That would just be disastrous. In the end, Tigerclaw took Ravenpaw on the sunhigh patrol with Redtail. The three cats set off towards Sunning Rocks and the border with RiverClan to make sure that the Clan of the Rivers weren't misbehaving.

 **Rosalie**

Rosalie woke up at around mid-morning, nowhere near time to head back to the forest and join ThunderClan. She rested her head on her paws and wondered if the previous night was real. She stood up and stretched, cringing as she felt the muscles in her body all but scream in protest to the movement, proving if just for that moment it hadn't been a dream. She ran out of her Twoleg's nest and sat in the garden, taking in the sights and smells one last time. She noticed her black and white friend Smudge on the fence that bordered their gardens.

"So, how was your visit to the forest?" Smudge asked with a hint of bitterness. Rosalie was surprised at her friend's tone, for he was normally calm about anything except the forest. To hear her friend sound bitter was more than surprising.

"It was good," Rosalie asked carefully. She suddenly felt like she didn't know her best friend and it scared her. She somewhat wondered, only now of all times, if Smudge liked her as more than a friend. She shook the thought away and told her friend about the encounter with the Clan cats and their offer of letting her join their Clan.

After telling the tale, Rosalie glanced up at the sky and realized she was going late if she didn't leave now. The two friends said goodbye for now, Smudge with great hesitance, and Rosalie re-entered the forest. As she left her garden for the last time, she shivered as she thought she felt the same cold, ice-blue eyes of the rouge that had killed her father and haunted her continuously afterward fall on her once more. She turned around and noticed the small black tom, his single white forepaw shining from the darkness. His blue eyes stared right into her green ones with a silent promise of finding her no matter where she went. Giving one more shudder, she leaped right into the forest, as if to protect herself from that cold gaze and followed the stale stench of fox back to the small clearing where she had met the Clan cats.

She sat down and went over Bluestar's directions in her mind. _She told me to wait for Lionheart in this same spot at sunhigh._ Just then, she heard bushes rustling and she caught the scent she was waiting for. _Lionheart_ , she thought before catching an unfamiliar scent as well. Rosalie could tell it was another tom, and that both toms were amused by something. The two toms approached and Rosalie was able to look at the other tom. He was a well-muscled, big, long-furred white tom with a scar on his shoulder and amber eyes. The white tom was even more amused, if that was possible, by the look of shock and awe that Rosalie gave him.

"No wonder Tigerclaw was reluctant to go on the sunhigh patrol," the white tom chuckled, amber eyes dancing with humor.

"Wha-what?" Rosalie stammered in shock. _Why would that be funny?_ She thought to herself, trying to figure out where the humor was coming from.

Lionheart chuckled one more time before becoming serious, though there was no denying the amused look in his amber eyes. "Alright Whitestorm, no need to confuse the poor kittypet too much before we take her back to camp."

Rosalie internally bristled at being called "kittypet", knowing as she did that it was an insult, but calmed she noticed that Lionheart hadn't used it as that. She twitched her torn left ear and flicked her tail-tip in acknowledgement and followed the two warriors to the ThunderClan camp.

 **Unknown (First Person)**

I watched as she left everything she knew behind to chase a fool's dream. I had seen the meeting the previous night. I knew where she was going, but I decided not to follow. There was still plenty of time to get revenge. I flicked what my tail in frustration before stalking back to my alley camp. This needed to be handled _very_ carefully, or else she would realize what I was planning. _Then again,_ I chuckled, _she should have known better than try to run into the forest to escape me._

 **Tigerclaw (Exit First Person)**

All was quiet on the RiverClan boarder as the patrol of three moved towards Sunning Rocks. Ravenpaw was nervous, his white tipped tail flicking continuously. Tigerclaw tried to calm his apprentice, but it was no real use. Right as they reached Sunning Rocks, they noticed a RiverClan patrol waiting for them.

 _Why now?_ Tigerclaw thought while listening to Redtail bicker with Oakheart, the RiverClan deputy. He knew what was coming, and he frankly quite tired of it. He briefly noticed a ragged-furred tortoiseshell and white cat on top of a rock pile, but shook his head away from that thought. There was a fight he needed to focus on right then, he could check later. Yowls of challenge rang from the RiverClan patrol and ThunderClan followed suit. The fight had begun.

 **Rosalie**

The two warriors led the way into the undergrowth, Rosalie right behind them. She knew that they must be approaching the camp soon since the scent of cat was growing stronger. They climbed down a ravine before entering a thorn tunnel. Rosalie gave a gasp of amazement as she saw the ThunderClan camp for the first time. The clearing was surrounded by trees, the sunlight from above casting dappled shadows. There was a bramble thicket right beside the entrance tunnel where Rosalie could hear the squeals of kits, she guessed it was the nursery. A short ways away was a fern tunnel. On one side of the clearing was a fallen tree, nearby was a bush and a tree stump. In the middle of the clearing was a pile of freshly-caught prey. At the head of the camp was a large boulder with a crack in it. On top of it was Bluestar, watching her Clan with a sharp blue gaze.

Once the blue-gray she-cat noticed the trio, she jumped down from her perch and approached them. While the three older cats talked, Rosalie noticed cats staring at her with judging eyes. She noticed one cat in particular, a sleek dark silver tabby with black stripes, was glaring at her with blue eyes like ice. Rosalie shuddered when her emerald gaze met those frosty eyes.

Before long, a Clan meeting was called, and Rosalie learned that the boulder was called Highrock. Rosalie sat in between Lionheart and Whitestorm, gazing up at Bluestar. She could feel her collar itching and wished that she had had the sense of taking it off before leaving her housefolk, but she had been in a hurry.

"ThunderClan needs more warriors. Never before have we had so few apprentices in training," Bluestar began. Rosalie stopped listening and focused more on the mutterings. She didn't mean to, but she was very uneasy being surrounded by mostly unknown cats, and she couldn't help but remember the rouges of the Twolegplace.

Just then, a voice penetrated her senses, full of scorn and self-importance. " _Lucky_ to be an apprentice!" While Bluestar continued talking, Rosalie looked around the crowd for the cat who spoke. Her green eyes found a pale brown tabby with a long tail sitting next to a small brown she-cat. She ignored the tom and went back to trying to listen to Bluestar's speech. But that was made near impossible by the mutterings over where she had come from. Rosalie glared at her collar, its golden bell gleaming in the sunlight, and waited for the realization to hit them.

"Look at that collar! She's a _kittypet_!" the pale tabby yowled. Rosalie glared at him for that comment. "Once a kittypet, always a kittypet. This Clan needs wildborn warriors to defend it, not another soft mouth to feed."

Feeling Rosalie bristle, Lionheart leaned his head over to hers and muttered "That tabby is called Longtail," Rosalie couldn't help but think that the name suited him. "You must prove to him and the others that you will not let anything hold you back." Rosalie twitched her torn ear in acknowledgement.

"Your collar is a mark of the Twolegs, and that noisy jingling will make you a poor hunter at best. At worse, it will bring the Twolegs into our territory, looking for the poor lost kittypet who fills the woods with her pitiful tinkling," Longtail continued to sneer, ignorant of Rosalie's annoyance at both him and her collar. She just wanted it off her neck, and she was devising the perfect way to get rid of it and prove that she would never back down. Plus, payback _hurts_. Cats were yowling in agreement to the warrior's speech, prompting Longtail to continue. "The noise of your treacherous bell will alert our enemies, even if your Twoleg _stench_ doesn't!"

Rosalie felt her torn ear twitch uncontrollably, her mind taking her back to _that_ day. She remembered the fear and helplessness she felt as that rouge killed her father, ice-blue shining cruelly. Her powerlessness was replaced by fury when she locked gazes with Longtail, turning fully around to face him. He flicked his tail-tip nervously as he seemed to realize that he was messing with the wrong kind of cat. Cats moved out of the way of the two, sensing that a fight was going to happen.

Hissing, Rosalie leaped at Longtail, surprising him as she clawed at his head. The fight continued for a few heartbeats before Longtail grabbed Rosalie's collar out of reflex. Both pulled away from each other and, with a snap as loud as thunder, the collar broke, flinging the two cats away from each other. Rosalie felt like yowling in glee when she got up and saw her broken collar in Longtail's jaws. She was free at last!

Bluestar called an end to the battle before the two could jump at each other again, not that Rosalie intended to do _that_. "The newcomer has lost her collar in a battle for her honor. StarClan has spoken its approval- this cat has been freed from the hold of her Twoleg owners, and is free to join ThunderClan as an apprentice." Rosalie walked over to Longtail and took her broken collar from his jaws, telling him with no words that she would always fight for her new Clan and nothing was going to stand in her way. Even her kittypet roots. She then tossed her collar into the thorns surrounding the camp. She'd most likely bury it away from camp properly later, but for now it was out of sight.

"You fought well," Bluestar muttered when Rosalie walked back from throwing her collar. "From this point," Bluestar said, loud enough for every cat to hear, "until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice shall be known as Firepaw, in honor of her flame-colored pelt."

Rosalie- _no, Firepaw_ -basked in the attention she was getting from her new Clanmates, though something told her that one fight wasn't enough to gain the approval of most of them. She met with Graypaw, who was sitting with a pale ginger she-cat and a dark brown tabby tom. Just before she could greet them, something flickered in the corner of her eye. Suddenly, a small black tom- _Ravenpaw_ she realized-ran into camp, blood dripping down his shoulder and hind leg. Right behind him was Tigerclaw, who was carrying a limp and broken body on his back. Bluestar was immediately running towards them, shooting off questions.

Firepaw wandered closer for a look, and saw a dark dappled tortoiseshell tom with feathered ears and a ginger tail. His amber eyes were glazed, his pelt unmoving and covered in dust. The pale ginger she-cat took one look and horror glazed her green eyes. "Father!" she yowled. Firepaw's mind went blank as memories of a similar situation took hold. She shook her head as hard as she could, shaking the memories of failure away for the moment, though she knew that those memories would haunt her once the sun set.

"We were fighting RiverClan at Sunning Rocks," Tigerclaw was saying when Firepaw began listening again. Firepaw couldn't help but notice that Tigerclaw sounded tired and wondered why. "Redtail and Oakheart were fighting when rocks started falling from the rock pile. There was nothing either one could do."

Firepaw was thankfully distracted by Graypaw, who showed her the camp. She learned the basics of what her life would be like now that she was an apprentice. The elders, who lived under the fallen tree, were nice and friendly, though One-Eye was practically deaf. Firepaw didn't really know how she ended up with _that_ name, but One-Eye never seemed to mind.

The sun soon set, and Firepaw claimed a nest close to the entrance of the den, away from her three denmates; Ravenpaw was still recovering in the medicine den from his injuries. Firepaw stared at the night sky for a long time, despite the long day she had and how tired she was. She wondered about what she had learned from Graypaw and the elders that day about StarClan, the Clan's warrior ancestors. They had said that the warriors who died became spirits and watched over their living Clanmates from the stars. She wondered if her father was there, despite being a kittypet. He had once told her that when cats die, they join those they had lost in the stars.

She had always wondered if there was truth in what her father had told her. At least she know knew where he heard it from.

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 **Okay, that's a wrap.**

 **By the way, who can guess the name of the mysterious POV in the chapter? If you still want to respond to the challenge from the previous chapter, you can.**

 **See you all next chapter.**

 **Make sure to review, it does wonders on the muse!**

 **~pokedawnheart**


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